Various mirrors have been proposed and used in connection with vehicles to afford the operator thereof with a view of objects, either animate or inanimate, moving or stationary, in the vicinity of the sides and in front of the vehicle, and also to the rear of the vehicle to permit the operator to have surveillance of those areas so as to see not only stationary objects, but also moving objects such as other vehicles, pedestrians, animals or the like traveling courses which could lead to collision with the vehicle if not avoided. Such mirrors have been of the flat surface mirror, cylindrical surface mirror and spherical surface mirror types. The most common flat surface mirrors for vehicles are the rear view mirrors usually mounted near the top center of the windshield, also outboard of the side windows near the front of the vehicle and in the case of school buses also mounted on the front fenders thereof. At times such conventional flat mirrors are replaced by convex cylindrical or spherical mirrors to provide a wider angle of view. Also, at times plural mirror assemblies of flat and convex mirrors are used, usually as outside mirrors to provide the undistorted flat mirror view along with the wider angle of view of the convex mirror.
One area where mirrors have been relied upon for safety purposes is in conjunction with school buses where safety problems are accentuated by the fact that the passengers for the most part are children, who often for no apparent reason or for one reason or another will act unexpectedly in the vicinity of the bus. They on occasion will run or dart along paths that cannot always be anticipated and which on occasion place the children in locations of material danger due to the configuration of school buses which often have a hood and fenders ahead of the windshield, interfering with the driver's view of areas in the vicinity of the bus. Mirrors have been variously located on buses to afford the driver a view of the area in front of the bus and also areas laterally of the bus. One such type of mirror is a spherical mirror mounted on a tripod type support and located at the respective front corners of the bus which affords the driver a view of the area ahead of the bus which is obscured from the driver's direct view by intervening portions of the bus, such as the hood and fenders. However, such mirrors do not afford a view of the area ahead of the wheels of the bus and under the portion of the bus projecting forwardly of those wheels, an area into which small children can often venture in pursuit of a pet, a ball or other object upon which their attention is concentrated without regard to the possible movement of the bus by the operator unaware of their presence in such location.
An object of this invention is to provide a mirror which may be mounted at the respective front corners of a bus so as to afford the driver, from his operating position, a view of the area extending outwardly from the sides of the bus, the area ahead of the bus and the area beneath the overhanging front portion of the bus ahead of the front wheels of the bus.
Another object of this invention is to provide such convex mirror which has an aspherical elliptic paraboloid form reflective surface.
Another object of this invention is to provide such a mirror which may be fixedly mounted in an appropriate position of adjustment such that operation of the bus by drivers of differing heights within the normal range of driver heights will be afforded a substantially like view of the areas laterally and forwardly of the bus, and the area under the overhanging fore portion of the bus ahead of the front wheels of the bus, and thus render substantially unnecessary readjustment of the mirrors upon each change of driver.
A further object of this invention is to provide such a mirror having its maximum curvature at is center with curvature decreasing outwardly to its peripheral edge.
The present invention provides a first viewing mirror mounted adjacent a first front corner of the bus and having a convex elliptic paraboloid shaped reflective surface which affords the driver, from his operating position, a view of the area extending outwardly from a respective side of the bus around the front corner of the bus and across an area in the front of the bus, and extending under the front of the bus ahead of the front wheels thereof, while a second viewing mirror similarly mounted adjacent the opposite front corner of the bus simultaneously affords the driver a view of the area extending outwardly from a respective second side of the bus around the front corner of the bus across the area in front of the bus, and also the area beneath the fore part of the bus in front of the front wheels thereof.
Another object of this invention is to provide a mirror having an elliptic paraboloid reflective surface mounted in a suitable frame member which is in turn mounted by tripod or similar structure to the body of the bus in a way that it may be adjusted to provide the driver with an appropriate view of portions of the bus and areas adjacent while seated in the driver's seat, and having such coverage that such view is substantially provided to an occupant of the driver's seat so long as that occupant is within the normal size ranges of drivers of the vehicle.
The above and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains from the following detailed description and the drawings.